Valerius’ Videogame Review: Eldrador Creatures: Shadowfall

What is Eldrador Creatures: Shadowfall?

Shadowfall is a newly released video game based on the popular Eldrador toy line from Schleich. All the creatures are faithfully recreated in-game for players to control as they wish. The game is geared toward a younger audience, featuring colorful graphics and cartoonish characters with unique personalities. Although the core of the game involves battling other creatures, the level of violence is mild and kid-friendly. The most serious outcome is a band-aid appearing on the injured character’s health bar.
The game includes four difficulty levels, from Easy to Very Hard, and supports multiple languages. However, voiceovers are only available in German and English. Normal difficulty is approachable even for players new to strategy games, and the extended tutorial does a good job of explaining the basics.

A (more or less) peaceful world under threat

Eldrador is divided into four worlds, each ruled by a powerful dragon: the Lava World, the Ice World, the Jungle World, and the Stone World. These realms maintain a fragile peace, with only the occasional skirmish—until the Lava World is suddenly attacked by mysterious Shadow Creatures appearing from nowhere. Unable to repel the threat, the Lava creatures retreat and discover that the only way to defeat the Shadow menace is to gather the four World Crystals, each held by a world ruler. Thus begins the journey of the boisterous Lava Golem, the tricky Lava Hyena, and the mighty Lava Dragon as they travel to strange lands, battle enemies, and rally new allies.

How does the strategy work?

Eldrador Creatures: Shadowfall is a turn-based strategy game. Players can explore freely until they encounter a battle, which is marked with its difficulty level on the overworld map. In combat, players choose up to three creatures (later four, with an upgrade) from a roster of up to 20. Each creature can move and attack during its turn unless affected by a condition like Frozen, which limits it to either moving or attacking. Once all player turns are completed, the enemy takes theirs. Most battles are won by defeating all opponents, but some have special objectives, like defending a target or taking down a specific foe.
Every creature has a free basic attack and a stronger attack that uses a mana sphere. These spheres are scattered across the battlefield and are often key to winning. A common strategy is to send a fast creature, like the rat, to gather them quickly so others can unleash their strongest abilities. Be cautious, though! Many attacks cover multiple tiles and can harm allies if they're caught in the blast.
After each battle, creatures are automatically healed, unless they took heavy damage or were defeated. In those cases, they start the next fight with reduced health and must skip a turn to fully recover. Creatures, including reserves, gain experience from every fight and grow stronger with each level. Players can also use gold -found on the map or earned through trophies- to upgrade all creatures’ health and attack power. This system keeps the gameplay rewarding and encourages steady progress.

Valerius’ thoughts on the game

This old monkey thinks the game is fun and very engaging. It has that uncanny “just one more battle” quality that makes time fly. While it lacks the complexity of more mature strategy titles, it shines with charm and personality. The four difficulty levels mean everyone can play through to the end. Even a strategy newcomer like me is making solid progress on Normal difficulty. I think most younger players will really enjoy Eldrador Creatures: Shadowfall, and many older ones might, too. Even seasoned strategy fans could find it a refreshing change of pace.

Conclusions

Eldrador Creatures: Shadowfall is available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch. It’s a well-balanced, enjoyable game that will keep kids entertained for hours. And probably not just the kids.

• Graphics: 8
• Sound: 8
• Story: 6
• Gameplay: 8
• Overall judgment: 8 bananas